Thyroid carcinoma in elderly people: Characterization using big data tools

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Geriatrics
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Thyroid cancer incidence and characteristics vary across age groups.
• Understanding age-related differences in comorbidities and healthcare resource use is crucial for optimizing patient care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the clinical-histological data, comorbidities, and healthcare resource utilization in elderly patients with thyroid cancer.
• To compare these factors between different age groups.

Main Methods:

• Observational, retrospective study using electronic medical record (EMR) data.
• Artificial intelligence (AI) techniques for data extraction and Savana Manager 3.0 software for analysis.
• Age stratification: younger (0-59 years), older (≥60 years), advanced age (60-74 years), and elderly (≥75 years).

Main Results:

• Thyroid cancer identified in 0.35% of 509,517 patients.
• Older patients showed less papillary carcinoma and more follicular/other types compared to younger patients.
• Elderly patients exhibited greater comorbidity but a trend towards lower healthcare resource consumption than those of advanced age.

Conclusions:

• Clinical characteristics, comorbidities, and healthcare resource consumption in thyroid cancer patients are strongly age-dependent.
• Elderly thyroid cancer patients present a significant comorbidity burden without a corresponding increase in healthcare resource use.